Christmas 2008

This year, Christmas was held at Mom's house in Laurens. CJ, the kids, and I went after I got off work on Christmas Eve. My sister, Jenny, along with her daughter, fiancee, and his children were also able to be there. And Derek even got the holiday off and was able to attend this "family function"!! We started out Christmas Eve with our annual tradition of chili and potato soup (it used to by oyster soup when Dad was alive! YUCK!!) with sandwiches and all the Christmas goodies. After the meal, we all sit around and pass out gifts to each other and take turns opening them. Zach's gift from us was an Xbox 360 and Brianna's gift was a Nintendo Wii. Both kids were extremely happy! After much eating and visiting, Jenny and Matt had to leave later that evening to get back home because Sydney was going to her dad's house on Christmas morning. After they left, we spent the next two hours trying to talk the kids into going to bed so Santa Claus could come!! I think we got everyone to bed and asleep by 12:30AM... hope Santa wasn't too mad!!!

I was actually the first one up on Christmas morning!! Not because of presents, but because I wanted to get a shower and get ready for church before everyone else started to awaken and fight for the bathroom!! I had just finished getting ready and had gone into the kitchen to start coffee and some breakfast when my Mom and Zach got up. And of course, Zach went in and woke Brianna up so they could see if Santa came or not! Santa learned a huge lesson many years ago when my sister and I were younger -- some children will wake up in the wee hours of morning and check for presents under the tree! Some certain children have even been known to take those presents and play with them before Mom and Dad even get up!! So now Santa always wraps the gifts he brings to our family members! This way they have to wait until Mom and Dad are up to start unwrapping and see what he brought them!! Well, after waking Brianna up, Zach and Brianna went and woke up the rest of the house so they could open their Santa presents. We have posted pics below!

After presents, we ate a quick breakfast and everyone got ready for the Christmas service. Going to church in Laurens is so different than in Sioux City... first being that in Laurens we can actually walk to church! Mom only lives two blocks away from it!! Secondly, the entire service was only about 35-40 minutes long! In Sioux City, a normal Sunday service lasts at least an hour and the Christmas Mass is even longer because of all the people attending and receiving Communion! The kids saw church in Laurens as a "plus"!! After church, we went home and started dinner -- pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and corn. Not to mention all the sweets sitting around for dessert!! Uncle Bill, my Mom's brother, came down with his two daughters and spent Christmas Day with us... eating, visiting, eating, playing out in the snow, eating... well, you get the idea!! We dreaded the idea of the day ending, because we knew we had to head back home. CJ and I both had to work the following day... Now we are looking forward to next year!! Happy Holidays, everyone!!